Cackle Hatchery Delivery Friday July 13th!! Anyone else expecting? - Page 8

I'm looking into getting a 'bator. 

When I do, I would be interested in raising some chickens that lay green eggs. :)

I'll definitely be in touch. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonsterClucker 

Definitely!
Just want to update the chicks progress. The chicks were hatched on July 11th so today they are all 12 days old.
Everyone is doin really good except for the fact sometimes I have to clean poop from their feet. I guess the brooder was becoming a little cramped and causing to much poop in one spot. So I extended the broodee adding another 3'x3' cardboard box. It seems its working for now.
Today I had them all outside for the first tile while I dumped all the shavings out of the boxes and refilled them with fresh shavings. Here's some pics from the afternoon excursion....





Little Turkey Poult Catching a snooze....

The Meaties are going to be outside full time in about a week. I'm building them a hoop coop made from PVC pip and plastic wire netting. I'll post up pictures if anybody is interested in that.
Im also building a "main" coop from pallets , mainly for all the BR chicks, but later going to integrate the whole flock. It's slowly coming together. I've got a few walls up so far, I had to go get more pallets so ill probably get most of the framing up sometime in the next week or two. Just mainly focusing on this meatie pen done and them gonna finish up the main coop.
If you guys are interested in seeing any of this here ill post it all here. If not I'm gonna move this to a different thread and start a little journal.
I appreciate all of you who contributed here, it helped me out a lot.
I'd really like to see pics of all yous'who got chicks too. I'd like to see how they all are doing.
thanks enjoy the day!

I like seeing pics of chicks and coops and birds and all that.  I really like home made coops.  And recycled coop stuff.  I am starting to take down a huge 6 stall grain bin I found on craigslist.  I have been searching for something like this for a long time.  A ton of hard wood just under a century old.  I cant wait.  Lol.  And who doesnt like taking out there frustration from life in a healthy and rewarding manner.  Thanks for the thread.

Hi again all,

Sorry for the very late response. We finally got our ( "replacement / reshipment" birds) After a lot of confusion and order changes and some truly lousy customer service from the hatchery -- and some extra special care from our postal folks they arrived -- only one loss this time.  I haven't had the time or brain cells to type out a decent reply before now, and I've somehow deleted the last couple I tried to post.

Ben, so so VERY sorry for the losses you had. I'd hoped your experiences would be different from mine.  We ordered birds from the same hatchery essentially.  (Mine were from MPC who uses Meyer)  I hope you had kinder folks to work with. It's devastating  to loose baby chicks.  I thought for sure that paying twice the reg. rate would mean a safer trip and healthier birds.  Hope your little ones are all okay and getting strong.

Josh U, I'm so jealous that you found such a cool thing to rebuild into a coop.  I hope you'll photograph the process and share it.

 Monster Clucker, I love the pics, especially the snoozing turkey poult.  Mine don't seem to sit up while sleeping.  They seem to be totally exhausted by messing up their brooder, and they sleep flat on their little faces.  Scared me the first couple of times I saw it. If you quit sending them to this thread, please advise where they will be.

I don't quite know what to say about my hatchery mail-order experiences.  I too think it would be great to hatch my own some day but I've got a lot to learn yet.  I totally agree that nature has its ways of designing the best for each environment.  I think  MPC could have been infinitely kinder when I called them regarding help with the last dying chick.  I never expected dead birds, I understand it can happen.  Callousness, on the other hand doesn't need to happen.  It's 100% preventable.  So is loosing a customer's order multiple times and letting their choices get reserved by new customers --  and then refusing to fix it -- I think that's got to be preventable too.  It's a shame.  Really it is.  There are some nice people who work there who really care about the birds, I think.  They just don't have the authority to really help their customers.  

One of my original birds, an EE, is a rooster, I think.  This could be getting even more complex.  I'll keep everybody posted.

Best to all -- warm and fluffy thoughts.

This is the building I am recycling.  It is 24x24x24.  The roof was removed a year ago.  It has 9 bins total.  All of them are lined with actual 2x10s.  And there is sheet metal lining each bin as well.  It is a rock.  Real tough work but will be well worth it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonsterClucker 


Wowwwwwwww! That is amazing! I'd like to see what the inside looks like if you have any pictures....
How long until you have it operational?

I dont have any pics.  When I go over there tomorrow, I will take some.  I am tearing this down and bringing all the oak to my house to build a barn and new flock coop.  The inside is hard to describe.  There is a drive thru area.  As you walk thru there are three bins on your left, three on your right, going from the floor to roof.  And three overhead the tunnel whick are 7 feet from the ground to the roof.  Tons of oak.  Tons of metal lining the bins.  Each bin has oak boards lining the walls.  Its a tremendous project.  It was built in 1920 and the nails are 4 inches long.  Hammers dont cut it.  Have to use a jiffy bar and a sledge.  Oh and my arms and shoulders are in serious pain.  Got rained out tonight.  I work full time 6 days a week and can only work on this from 5 or 6 until dark.  I will update tomorrow.